Menace Mashup: MIISFFL Week 4

If you look up the word "humble" in the dictionary (or in my case dictionary.com), this is what you will read:

adjective

1.

not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

2.

having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.

3.

low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc.; lowly: of humble origin; a humble home.

4.

courteously respectful: In my humble opinion you are wrong.

5.

low in height, level, etc.; small in size: a humble member of the galaxy.

This week in MIISFFL, several players might want to take that definition to heart this week, as in so many ways our losers were served a cold slice of humble pie.  I can't think of a single week in MIISFFL history when one word summarized the way the matches have gone better than this one.  To all the readers of the Mashup...and of our fabulous sponsor blog Caputo's Corner...how have you been humbled lately? 

Our first humbling came at the hands of KSo.  Kent had been looking forward to this matchup for several weeks, talking trash in the general direction of Qatar, Bahrain, Yemen, or any other Middle Eastern country that would listen hoping beyond hope that KSo would simply curl up into the fetal position, submit, and proclaim Kent's Supremeness as MIISFFL's Supreme Being of the Supreme.  Yet, alas, as the Dream Team in the NFL has stumbled to a 1-3 start, so too has our Supreme Team, humbled at the hands of KSo who at 2-2 is alive and well in the Pub Dogs division.  The game was somewhat close heading into the Monday Night affair last night, with Kent holding a 109-81 lead, but with KSo still waiting on his trio of Buccaneers (Big Deers?) to take on the Colts, the best 0-4 team in the history of pro football.  The clincher came in the 4th quarter as LeGarrette Blount took one 45 yards to the house to put away Indy...and Kent.  All Kent wanted to do was kick KSo...but all he kicked up was sand in a stiff headwind. 

Our next humbling comes from our teacher bowl.  Fresh off of an embarassing Basement Bowl victory over Gaz in week 3, your fearless commissioner set to do battle with Pat Deegan, trying to regain some of that momentum that carried him to victory in 2009 and a division crown in 2010.  Supreme Being opined that Deegan's RB's would be the difference.  JP just wanted to know why nobody was voting on his matchup in Undefeated Bowl.  Turns out that a running back did make the difference...one that didn't even start (OK, so it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, but I did set up the line well).  At the last second, upon finding out that Frank Gore would not start, I benched him.  Bad idea since all he did was go for 135 and touchdown.  In a back and forth affair throughout the 1PM block on Sunday, Pat pulled ahead for good when Vincent Jackson housed one from about 60 yards out...and he never looked back.  Matty Ice didn't get to 300 yards on the Seattle turf and Santonio Holmes (the other half of the acquisitions from Kent in a trade for Matt Forte) only caught two balls in an offensive mess at Baltimore.  The last two champs are at 1-3 and are in despreate need of some help. 

Two players who don't really need a lot of help are JP and Tom...at least until this weekend anyway...yikes!  In our matchup of 3-0 unbeaten teams, Tom is going to have to find a new team name because to say he got humbled by JP is an understatement.  Let me correct that...Tom got humbled by Aaron "World Heavyweight Champion" Rodgers.  I am regretting my number one pick of Adrian Peterson right now...I KNEW I should have taken Rodgers when I had the chance.  Rodgers was really all JP needed to hang 168 to Tom's paltry 62.  Tom's trade for Andre Johnson might have blown up in his face as apparently Arian Foster's bad hamstrings are contagious.  We'll see how long he's out.  JP has no such injury issues.  Rodgers' 50-spot was backed up with strong performances from Megatron (25) and Beanie Wells (33) of all people.  This is in spite of poor performances from Hightower (3), Gronkowski (2), and Devery Henderson (Dunkin' Donuts).  All of a sudden, Tom goes from 3-0 and loving life to having everybody question his trade tactics...kind of like a certain quarterback in Dallas, Texas.  Tom will have to watch the Andre Johnson situation closely in the coming weeks, as will we all. 

Oh we're just getting started with the humblings.  Gaz came into this week's matchup with Matt at 0-3 and seriously considering tanking the season for a shot at Andrew Luck in the 2012 draft.  Wait...you mean you can't do that in fantasy football?  Sorry, Gaz...guess you're stuck with Jason "can't keep a coordinator" Campbell and the highest scoring defense on your team.  Ah, but we are talking about humblings, right?  Gaz can't possibly be the guy getting humbled since he's already 0-3.  That's right, his charges woke up just enough to KO Matt and get Gaz his first win of the season.  He had to win eventually, right?  Matt's roller coaster of a season continues.  29 from Hakeem Nicks was huge as Gaz breathes a sigh of relief that he did not have Victor Cruz and all of his fumbles.  Huh?  You mean he gave himself up on that play?  Haha...good one.  All Matt can do is go drill seargent on his players...or consider taking Gaz up on his recent trade offers.  If you can't beat 'em, join 'em, right? 

Patrick Small wishes he could play the commissioner every week.  I seem to be the only guy he can beat anymore as he gets humbled by Zach in the highest scoring matchup of the day.  Zach's 161 comes from balanced scoring across the board (double digits from everybody), and he needed all of them as Patrick put up large numbers with Vick and Baltimore defense.  However, subpar performances from his wide receiving corps ultimately proved to be his undoing.  Patrick has fallen back into the humble category with the past two champions, and Zach annouces his arrival in 2011 MIISFFL (as if he hasn't already).  Rookie bowl next week to look forward to.

Finally, the biggest humblings of all go to Jeff and Sean...relegated to the last match recap of the week.  Jeff won the interdivisional match, barely cracking the 100 point barrier, not nearly up to his lofty standards.  Sean's team played uninspired football this week, humbling themselves.  Even Brady decided he needed the week off, not even getting to the 20 point mark.  I guess he didn't look at enough videotape this week.  Both Jeff and Sean are in the middle of the pack at 2-2, but Sean is in much better position as his 2-2 is in a 4-way tie for first in the Pub Dogs division.  Jeff is looking up at 4-0 JP and 3-1 Tom in the Greene Turtles division, not that his phased him last year...how soon we forget how quickly even the mighty can get humbled. 

That puts a wrap on this week's recap of humblings and humiliations.  At least I finally got 11 games right at my picks...and hey, the Redskins are 3-1...so it's all goodLet's see who gets humbled next week in MIISFFL as the matchups are:

Kent-Patrick Small (Patrick doesn't play me again...good news for Supreme Being?)
Nick-Tom (Undefeated just doesn't quite have the same ring to it)
KSo-Gaz (Letdown game for the Supreme Beaters?)
Zach-Matt (Rookie Bowl: Loser carries the other guy's shoulder pads)
Sean-Patrick Deegan (Mellow Bowl)
JP-Jeff (Jack is getting excited)

As a final tribute to humbling before we sign off on the mashup this week, whether you got humbled or did the humbling, you can always take solace in the fact that there will always be at least 7 guys on a football field who always need more humblings than they actually get: the guys in zebra stripes.  Enjoy.

Have a great Tuesday from all of us at the Mashup!